WRite up and results.....

The Sho-Air / Rock N Road / Specialized 24-Hours of Orange County went off far better than our expectations!!!

Although it was 95 to 100 degrees on Saturday that did not keep the racers (including 28 novice, intermediate and expert solo riders) from giving it their all on the demanding 5.6 mile course with 1,253 feet of total elevation gain per lap.

"In my opinion, the course is not the deciding factor, Mother Nature is. The wild card in all of these endurance events is the weather."

The fastest lap time (31 minutes) was set by John "Fuzzy" Mylne of the Sho-Air 5 person team. Sho-Air won the 5 person team class with a total of 36 laps (201.60 miles and 45,108 total feet of elevation gain. The other members of the Sho-Air Team were Terry Best, John Mylne, Scott Tedro and Jason First. In second place was the Geoladders Team with 33 laps (184.80 miles and 41,349 feet of total elevation gain.

The winning two man team, John Hudspeth and Jose Alvarez won their class with 15 laps (84 miles and 18,795 total feet of climbing). The winning corporate team of Switchback Cyclery (with 9 members) completed 23 laps (128.80 miles and 28,819 total feet of elevation gain). Two of the Switchback Teams youngest riders, club/race team member Camron Panttaja age 12 and Ericka Huth age 13, busting out 58 to 1:02 minute laps!

In the solo class Manual Prado of Team Sho-Air was the top male rider (in the 17 to 30 Class) with 20 laps (112 miles and 25,060 total feet of elevation gain). Manual, who was 4th in his class at the Cytomax Spring Mountain Bike Classic last April, is leading the Warrior's Society / Sho-Air Male Orange County Championship Series with total points of 185.

He has two more races in the series left, the Switchback 6-Hours of Orange County on October 19th and the Sho-Air Fall Mountain Bike Classic on November 18th. It will be exciting to see if he continues to lead the series. Eighteen year old Ryan Ognibene was second with 16 laps (89.60 miles and 20,048 of total elevation gain). This is Ryan's last race with us this year as he's heading to Colorado for college in the fall.

Bernice Pierson was the top female solo rider (31 to 45) with 16 laps (89.60 miles and 20,048 of total elevation gain). Bernice also leads the Warrior's Society / Sho-Air Female Championship Series with 195 points with two events left in the series. Bernice wrote a race report on her experience at the 24-Hour event.

In second place (and in second place in the female Warrior's Society / Sho-Air Championship Series) was Warrior's Society club/race team member Mary Huth who completed 14 laps (78.40 miles and 78.40 miles) and trails Bernice in the Championship Series by 10 points. In third place was Shannon Simm with 7 laps (39.2 miles and 8,771 total feet of elevation gain).

The other notable top male solo riders were Warrior's Society club/race team member Eron Boyer riding his first solo 24-hour event in the intermediate 31 to 45 class, Warrior's Society club/race team member Matthew Nourmohamadian, also riding solo for the first time in the novice 17 to 30 class and Douglas Kubler who won the novice 31 to 45 class.

Eron had the second most laps for a solo rider with 18 laps (100.80 miles with 22,554 feet of total elevation gain) and he did it in style wearing a pink skirt. Eron is also one of the designers of the J.E.T Trail used in the event.

One of our youngest Warrior's Society Club/race team members, 16 year old Matt "Soaring Falcon" Nourmohamadian, had to be moved up to the 17 to 30 age group because there was no one else in his 16 and under class - and he came in first with 15 laps (84 miles and 18,795 total feet of climbing). Mario Correa, our endurance expert who supported Matt had this to say about him:

"I think those of us out at the race saw a talented young endurance racer out on the course this weekend. It's impressive to see riding like that and to think that endurance racers don't even peak until they're in their early 30's. He's only going to get stronger and faster, there's a ton of potential there.

Absolutely awesome race Matt!! Next time you do a solo 24 I'll happily be your support for the full 24 hours. Having seen you race and your strengths we can put together a good game plan for the next one."

Douglas Kubler 61, riding a rigid single speed, had to be put in the younger novice 31 to 45 class because there was no other competitors in the novice 45 and up class. He won with 12 laps (67.20 miles and 15,036 feet of total elevation gain). Great job Douglas!!!

Other solo winners were Josh Smith in the solo expert 31 to 45 class with 11 laps (61.60 miles with 13,783 of total elevation gain, Randy Profeta in the solo expert 46 and up class with 12 laps (67.20 miles and 15,036 feet of total elevation gain) and Jeffrey Do in the solo intermediate 17 to 30 class with 12 laps (67.20 miles and 15,036 feet of total elevation gain).

Congratulations to all our class winners!

The event would not have been possible without the support of sponsors Rock N Road Cyclery, Sho-Air International and Specialized Bikes who sponsored the event as well as all our volunteers that worked as support. Rock N Road's owners Matt and Stuart were at the race to promote Specialized with demo bikes and to spritz riders with his cooling sprayer as they crossed the finish line. Rock N Road also had a full support mechanic on the scene the entire 24 hours to keep the racers bikes finely tuned!

Thanks to Niterider for the use of their charging systems and thanks to Clif Bar for having support staff available for not only their tent but for manning our First Aide tent, which I am proud to say didn't need to be used. The Clif Bar staff even cooked for the event staff and riders.

And a special thank You goes out to Scott Tedro and his wife for a personal donation of $1000.00 to the Warrior's Society, which was presented at the awards ceremony to everyone's surprise. The Tedro family donation will be used by the Warrior's Society to continue its efforts to put on first class racing events in Orange County. This money will be used to help in improving the logistics of our events by helping with the purchase of a trailer that will be used at both our trail work as well as our races.

Our Event Director Sherry "Stands Her Ground" Panttaja, who oversaw all aspects of the event, played a big part in its success. Sherry's passion and drive is something I wish I could bottle up and sell.

The scoring was handled by our Timing Director Suzanne "She Who Watches Time" Martin, who quickly mastered the timing software for our cross country events. Suzanne even made the software work at the 24-Hour Event (even though she was told by the company that wasn't designed for a 24-Hour Event). Her efforts, combined with Sherry's organization of key checkpoints and timing support, resulted in the raffle and awards ceremony being done by 1:00 - one hour after the event ended. Can you think of any other 24-Hour event that does this?

We had many volunteers, but a few key people were critical to the events success because they spent 30 or more hours working the event; Jason Martin, Tim Panttaja, Suzanne Martin, Eron Boyer, Sherry Panttaja, Bob McCarter, Reed Price, Joe Lopez, Bill Hines, Matt, Jady "Tink" Enomoto, Larry "Lare-Dog" Branham and Ken Rands worked their rear ends off.

Ned Reynolds, who worked his butt off organizing the back country trail Work this year, even showed up to break everything down and haul it up to the warehouse. Club member John Early and his friend Chip Leopard cooked breakfast for the support staff, pre-cooked the pasta for Sunday, and then cooked hot dogs for the event participants and cleaned up afterward.

Thanks to the property owners of the Flying B Allen Dean and Dan Dulac for hosting the event and thanks to their ranch managers Amy and Mark Ferguson for all their hard work cooking and cleaning for the participants.

This "Vision Quest" to promote this 24-Hour Event has taught us all a lot, it tested us mentally and surprised us in ways that had us at times in desperation. But the ultimate ending to where the Vision led - thanks to all who that participated in it - exceeded our expectations.

All our new events this year have gone smoothly, and from the feedback, very successfully; and we've learned a lot in the process.

The Warrior's Society is deeply grateful to all of you who participated in the event and those of you who worked hard to make it a success.

See you at the Switchback 6-Hours of Orange County on Saturday, October 21st.

Solo Rider's write up.....

Mention that you are doing the 24 hours of OC and most people would think you are going to sit on your couch and watch back-to-back-to-back episodes of The OC for 24 hours. Can you imagine that? Sitting on your couch watching TV for all those hours with no sleep? How about walking your dog around a park for 24 hours non-stop? What about sitting at your computer surfing the net for 1,440 sleepless minutes? It's hard to imagine doing any one thing for one entire day and night.

So why did I do a solo 24 hour mountain bike race? Well, I know it's cliché, but I did it just to see if I could. I'm relatively new to the endurance mountain bike scene, but I've heard of many of these races in which a competitor rides around a set course of about 5-10 miles and the one who completes the most laps in 24 hours wins. The competitor can rest and sleep whenever she wants, but the time does not stop.

Being that it was my first 24 hour race, I was not sure what to expect. About a week and half out, I really had no plan. I was not so much concerned with my physical ability to complete the race since I've completed many 24 hour adventure races consisting of mountain biking, kayaking, and trekking. I was not even worried about staying awake the entire time. My true fear was my mental strength. Could I keep myself motivated to continue riding the same brutal course lap after lap, so many times?

That's when "Super" Mario Correa came in handy. Mario is an incredible mountain biker and a highly achieved endurance rider, as well as my friend. So when I called him frantically asking how I should be preparing for this race, he quickly began coaching me. He gave me guidelines for my physical and mental preparation for the week before the race and a nutritional guide and support crew info for during the race. He also scheduled himself to be there to assist me. Without the advice and mental support from Mario, I would have gone in to the race blind.

So the most important thing I learned about preparing for a 24 hour mountain bike race is that I must always have a plan; a pre-race and a race day plan. Execution is key, so I must be sure that my support crew keeps me as close to that plan as possible. And of course, I must plan for success!

The Rock-n-Road, Sho-Air, Specialized 24 Hours of OC is organized by the Warriors Society and is held at the Flying B Ranch. The course may very well be the toughest 24 hour race course in all of California. It is 5.6 miles long with 1253 feet of elevation gain. The very technical singletrack up and down is exposed with very little shade from the sun in the canyons.

The weather cleared nicely in SoCal for all the beach lovers, but for those of us riding our bikes through the canyons, the clear skies and scorching sun brought brutally hot temperatures into the mix. The race started at noon on Saturday and for the first six hours, racers suffered through the heat.

My goal for this race was to ride my best and finish as well as I could no matter what the other girls did. I mean, don't get me wrong, I was well aware that my biggest competition, Mary Huth, would be racing and that she was a talented and strong rider. But my goal was to do my best whether it meant first place or last place. I even told my crew not to tell me how my competition was doing. But as the race progressed and I grew tired, I sought that info so that I could calculate my break times accordingly and still remain competitive.

Competing solo in a 24 hour mountain bike race is very different from my usual four person team adventure races. In a 24 hour adventure race, I am always moving with my teammates. I can depend on the guys to physically and mentally pull me through my difficult times on the course. I can always look forward to a new discipline. When my back and bottom start hurting on the bike, I know that soon I will change to trekking or kayaking. And usually I can look forward to moving faster so that our team can finish the race in less than 24 hours.

On the other hand, in a 24 hour mountain bike race I must keep myself motivated. I can not reach for a tow from one of the guys when I get too tired to climb a hill. I can not chat with my teammates about the meaning of life to keep my mind off the pain. I can not look forward to moving from the bike to the kayak. And I know that no matter how fast I ride, I will still have to go for 24 hours.

For my first 24 hour mountain bike race, I planned for success and success is what I achieved. I was the first place solo female finisher with 16 laps which translates into 89.6 miles with 20,048 feet of elevation gain. I'm always amazed at what my mind and body can do and I satisfied my question about my mental ability to complete the race.

But none of this could have been possible without the other folks involved. Mary Huth and Shannon Simm were out there giving it their all and with incredible endurance and strength, they also made the podium. Chris, Sherry, Suzanne, Jason, Tim and all of the Warriors Society built an incredible course. Rock-n-Road, Sho-Air and Specialized sponsored the event. Dr. Shane from Core Chiropractic worked on my body with the DMS. And Mario, Gilly, Erin, Greg, Curt, Christie, and my riding buddy Eron supported me through it all.